Analytical Failure Prediction of Spherical Composite Pressure Vessels

The geometrical complexity of winding patterns for fiber composite spherical pressure vessels has most often resulted in design and analysis based on use of assumed spherical symmetry. Development of computer programs for detailed geometrical description of the fabricated structure winding pattern provides the data needed to perform a finite element analysis and make design improvements. Stress distributions are evaluated by the Weibull statistical failure theory and a failure pressure is predicted. Selected results for a specific case are presented.